Random metal-detector screenings of students are being instituted immediately in the county’s 184 public schools, through the end of the school year, Superintendent Barbara Jenkins said Wednesday.
Jenkins’ announcement followed shortly after a Colonial High School student was arrested by police who found a loaded small-caliber handgun in his backpack Wednesday. The random metal-detector screenings will remain in effect through the end of the school year on June 5, 2013.
“With two recent cases of weapons and munitions found or threatened to be brought onto district campuses, the metal-detection screenings should help prevent this senseless and unsafe behavior,” Jenkins said in a statement.
Over the past few weeks, the extra security level was raised as an option after the district’s Security and Operations leadership collaborated with local and state law enforcement and security experts.
Random screenings will be done by security personnel in cooperation with school administrators, with sensitivity to its effect on students.
No other details of the program were released, in an effort to preserve the effectiveness of the random screenings.
